Pebbles in the pond

Waking and Sleeping

Part 44 of the ongoing saga of The Great Being, the One Self that manifests as each of us

We have been following the experiences of two Agents of Cosmic Intelligence, Melchizedek and Layla, here on a mission that started in 200,000 BC. As Blu and Ska, they are now well into their new life, around 40,000 BC in the mountains of northwestern Spain.

Now unaware of their identities as Agents, Blu and Ska had been accepted into Stari-ki’s army. As they traveled down the mountain together, they passed the ruins of their former tribe’s camp. Blu and Ska, and their old King (now Aldus), seemed to be the only survivors, until they reached the valley below where they were welcomed by their mates. As they wandered off to find privacy, Aldus whispered to Stari-ki, “I have never trusted those men.” What now for Blu and Ska? Previous episodes.

The old King Aldus followed King Stari-ki into his glorious tent, stealing glances and trying to fix in his mind what he was seeing so that he could try to duplicate as much as possible of its wonders for himself. How was this made?!

“Have a seat over here, little brother,” Stari-ki said. He saw that the now-subordinate Aldus, occupying this wizened body, was still coming in and out of it. When Stari-ki had found him on the battlefield, he knew at once that Aldus had become totally enslaved by the brain in the human he had occupied. Although it was the rebels who secretly caused the brain to come out slightly better than intended, hence competitive with an occupying mind of almost any strength, it was now causing them as much difficulty as it was causing to the Old Guard.

Rather than killing the old King, Stari-ki decided to wake him up to his true rebel identity, as he would be far more useful that way. As a necessary shock he would perform a seeming miracle, and would need to conceal it from everyone else around them. He had to quickly figure out the best plan as Aldus and his bodyguards were running toward him, weapons drawn.

He mind-blasted everyone in his line of sight, including his own men, but spared Aldus. They were now the only ones standing. With his mind, Stari-ki helped Aldus stop in his tracks without falling and held him steady. Aldus felt himself being manipulated physically by outside control, and saw every warrior fall and die simultaneously. He was indeed shocked and knew that reality was more than what he had come to believe. And then he remembered knowing this before.

There had not been time to palaver while the extermination was going on, and now that it was all over Stari-ki had intended to give Aldus his personal attention, to stabilize him at his new higher level of consciousness so he would not slip back. Then when Aldus brought up not trusting Blu and Ska, it played right into his plan to sit down and talk with the former King.

Once seated, Aldus reached into a pouch and offered Stari-ki a bit of psychedelic mushroom. The rebel leader stared at it for a moment, weighing what would get the job done best, with or without the mushroom, and decided they should both take it, so they did. Get us on the same wavelength at least, Stari-ki thought.

“What don’t you trust about Blu and Ska?” Stari-ki asked. He had already learned their names and being good at names remembered theirs easily.

“They are too smart,” Aldus responded. “They stick out like sore thumbs from the rest of these savages.” Aldus still half-thought he was one of the savages, but now he was fully occupying the true identity he was when he came to Earth. It was easier in the presence of Stari-ki, whose presence was clearly that of a god. He, Aldus, was that too. Now he remembered himself. Holding onto that remembering was not going to be easy, though. The mushroom seemed to help, although sometimes it caused him to panic himself one way or another.

“Have you recovered your ability to read minds?” Stari-ki asked. At first surprised, as he hadn’t remembered having that ability until Stari-ki mentioned it, he tried to send his mind out to read Blu’s and Ska’s, but nothing happened.

“Give it time,” Stari-ki advised. “Right now both of them are thinking lustful thoughts about their wives. I find their level of inner life very typical of the readings I get from all these hominids. You, at least, are awake with me right now!”

“Maybe they are capable of hiding, shielding? Aren’t Agents supposed to have amazing powers?” Aldus asked, fascinated by what was coming out of his mouth, as if by itself. Bits of his memory were coming back a trickle at a time, in realtime.

“They put up a good fight,” Stari-ki said, relishing memories of his triumphs over Agents, and how none of them were pushovers. He ached for his next fight like that.

There was silence but Stari-ki could tell that Aldus was not convinced. “OK, what is the real reason you don’t trust those guys?” Stari-ki asked disarmingly.

Aldus looked blank. Then he got it that he was supposed to look inside himself and say something wise and objective. He tried for that. “Maybe I got the feeling that they wanted to be King and could overthrow me. They somehow got all the women and children and a lot of the men on their side.” Stari-ki nodded approvingly.

“Well, good,” Stari-ki said, “Let me worry about them. I’m going to make you King again and I’ll be taking those two with me.” The look on Aldus’ face combined joy, relief and loss, causing Stari-ki to laugh uproariously. The little devil wants everything both ways, he thought with paternal-like affection.

“Thank you,” Aldus finally said with emotion. He had never dreamed he would be King again. “Where are you going? When will you be back? You are coming back, aren’t you?” Aldus sounded like a little boy speaking to his father, although secretly the idea of never seeing Stari-ki again was reassuring in terms of remaining top dog. Stari-ki saw all of this and smiled again.

“I will be back. I have to set up this whole coastline first, from almost as far North as where we came from in the first place, but far West of there, and then to far down South into the next continent. When that’s done and armies are being built throughout our territory, I will return.”

“Before you go, can you help me regain my memories faster?” Aldus asked, and Stari-ki looked pleased. This was the right question.

“Glad you asked,” Stari-ki said, and leaned back against his leafy cushion.

Not far away Blu was asleep in Izbel’s arms, and dreaming. He dreamed he was in this new bed with Izbel, and then something called him in his head. He wasn’t sure whether he was hearing it with his ears or what, but he snuck out of the bower without waking Izbel, and followed the sound of the call. There hiding in the woods was a woman who looked somehow familiar. He didn’t remember Layla but recognized her as the dream woman. She was trying to tell him something, as if in sign language. He couldn’t understand it, and then he got it:

We have to wake up, she was signaling.

Wake up? What could that mean? Wait – yes, this is a dream!

Blu woke up. He had never left Izbel’s arms. Who was that woman? She looked so familiar.